Still, the weight of the debate inside his cabinet has shifted, especially after the resignation last week of the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who was caught up in an extramarital affair with an aide. Mr. Hancock was a lockdown hawk; his replacement, Sajid Javid, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, is viewed as much more determined to reopen the economy. A major test of Britain’s commitment to restoring normalcy will come with the soccer championship. British authorities have yet to allow anything close to a sellout crowd at Wembley, which has played host to several games, including this week’s thriller, in which England defeated Germany. Admissions have so far been capped at 22,000 people in a stadium that seats 90,000. Under current plans, two-thirds of the seats could be filled for the finals. With Mr. Johnson standing next to her, Ms. Merkel said she was “worried and skeptical” about whether it was a good idea to pack stadiums. Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy demanded that the final be moved out of England because of the high incidence of the variant.